David Bowie: The Next Day

     A couple years ago, I resigned myself to the notion that the artists I liked from the 60's, 70's and 80's would never record anything relevent again. Paul McCartney. Neil Young. Elton John. Robert Plant. The Who. Ray Davies. The only exception had been Rush...until yesterday. After a 10 year hiatus, David Bowie has released an album that proves he is still a vital artist. Rather than playing the boring, old singer-songwriter card, he put out a rock album with guitars and drums and that amazing voice. That's the best thing about The Next Day; hearing that voice again.
     Back on Bowie's birthday when he released the first single "Where Are We Now?", I thought he had gone down the boring singer-songwriter road. Then Tony Visconti said he was surprised that was the first single, because the rest of the album was rock songs. I was skeptical, but hopeful. It turned out to be true. Now, I'm not going to break the album down track by track (that's what Pitchfork and The AV Club are for). Nor will I argue that any song on The Next Day will knock "Ziggy Stardust" or "Rebel Rebel" out of the Bowie canon. But it is a fantastic record.
     My only gripe about the cd is the packaging. It has the Heroes cover, but his face is covered by a white square that says The Next Day. Then on the back, the credits are covered by a white square with the song titles. Maybe there's some meaning to it, but for me it's kind of annoying. Inside, there is a fold out "poster" which has the lyrics on one side and the credits on the other side. That's fine, but the lyrics are all run together and the credits are microscopic and run together. It makes my brain hurt. It appears that Gail Ann Dorsey is on much of the album and there are appearances by artists such as Tony Levin, Earl Slick and ...oh I give up, my brain's hurting again.
     I've only listened to the cd a couple times, but here are my favorite tracks so far.

* The Next Day
* The Stars
* I'd Rather Be High
* Dancing Out In Space
* How Does The Grass Grow?
* If You Can See Me
* You Feel So Lonely You Could Die
* I'll Take You There (bonus track, I bought the deluxe edition)

     I still wish Bowie would change his mind about touring, but that doesn't seem likely. At least he has restored my faith in old rock stars. Peace.